Our Texas Hill Country Wedding

2 June 201310,359 views16 Comments

For me, really feeling like a truly married person has been a gradual process over a year and a half period. Adam and I got engaged in Paris on Sept. 25, 2011, got legally married in Houston in a hastily planned ceremony on Dec. 25, 2011 (Christmas Day), and co-hosted a second wedding ceremony and celebration in Austin on Oct. 6, 2012. Last week, I officially changed my name to Jodi Bart Holzband on my driver’s license, and today I’m finally sharing some of my favorite moments from our Hill Country Wedding (aka Wedding B) here.

We hired Aron Hoag, a friend who is also a really talented graphic designer, to create a personal logo, which we used on the invitations and personalized bottle cap magnets we sent to the guests.

Instead of sending “save-the-dates” in the mail, Adam designed a gorgeous wedding website; he also constructed our names out of sandwiches to use on the sites landing page. It was all hand-done with no post-production editing at all.

My contributions to the image was the wood cutting board, making the+ out of matzoh, and the jaunty gingham napkin. I also helped eat the J O and D. I wrote the website content, and took the lead on creating a list of “Austin Favorites” for the out-of-town guests.

Exterior shots of the pavilion, fire pit, Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza (Takoba used it as their staging area and served drinks from the bar), Jester King Brewery, and the Airstream trailer restrooms.

Nathan Russell Photography

Lucy prepares for her big moment as Dog of Honor.

Nathan Russell Photography

Adam’s wedding band was worn by my paternal grandfather, Imre Bart (aka Nagypapa). The diamond in my wedding ring was from a necklace originally owned by Adam’s paternal grandmother, Bessie Holzband (aka Bubbe), and later given to Adam’s mother Paula as a wedding gift.

I had a new name tag made for Lucy with her new last name as a surprise to Adam.

Our papercut Tree of Life ketubah was made in Israel, and shipped to the U.S. We had to put in our order about a month before the wedding, so the artist would have time to create the piece and ship it before the Jewish holidays.

Nathan Russell Photography

A Jewish wedding ceremony begins with the signing of the Ketubah, witnessed by our dear friends Ashley G., David L., Jennifer S., and Rachel L.

After the Ketubah signing is the ceremony under the Chuppah. Our parents, my brother, and Lucy, were all part of the processional.

There was lots of smiling under the Chuppah, with Rabbi Sam Rose, a newly ordained Rabbi from Congregation Beth Israel presiding. We joked during our pre-ceremony marriage counseling that it was his first wedding and our second. We used a real drinking glass, rather than a light bulb as many do, for the breaking of the glass part of the ceremony, so I was thrilled when Adam broke the glass and didn’t slice his foot.

Under the Chuppah, Dog of Honor + Adam Breaks the Glass by Emily Goodstein Photography, Recessional by Nathan Russell Photography

We took wedding portraits in the field next to Ceres Park pavilion before the ceremony.

Nathan Russell Photography

And family portraits too.

Nathan Russell Photography

The Bee Creek Boys played bluegrass for both the ceremony procession and the cocktail hour. Our friends and family enjoyed drinks and appetizers served by the Takoba staff while Adam and I enjoyed our Yichud, or first moments alone.

Takoba served appetizers — Tostaditas de Ceviche, Tostaditas de Carnitas, and Empanadas de Tinga — and specialty cocktails — Watermelon Mint Vodka Agua Fresca and Paula’s Margarita. We also offered three French wines — one red, one white, and one rose — and three Jester King beers — one pilsner, one ale, and one IPA.

Nathan Russell Photography

The pavilion was set up beautifully, and looked especially magical once the sun went down. Our designer/planner, Erika Stojeba, and her assistant did a lovely job setting up the centerpieces we created, and the throw pillows made of recycled coffee bean bags donated by Cuvee Coffee.

Nathan Russell Photography

Heartfelt and funny speeches were given by my parents, Adam’s cousin Evan, and my brother Jeff, with captioning provided by Marie Bryant of Houston. While Adam’s parents organized the captioning to help Adam’s mother, who has cochlear implants, feel confident that she wasn’t missing anything, I think it enhanced everyone’s understanding of what was being said, and also made the jokes that much funnier.

During the speeches, Adam and I tried to eat as much of the dinner as we could, which had been served buffet-style on the far side of the pavilion. The menu included Enchiladas Verdes con Camarones, Enchiladas de Pollo con Mole, Tacos de Verduras, Tacos de Bistec, Vegetarian Refried Beans, and Mexican Rice.

Nathan Russell Photography

DJ Josh LaRue from Soul Happening kept guests of all ages dancing to soul, funk, rock and roll, and even hip hop.

Nathan Russell Photography

It was unseasonably cold that night, after a really hot spell the night before, so many guests weren’t dressed appropriately. Luckily, the Ceres Park folks had a campfire set up, and we were able to get it going for those who wanted to take a break from dancing.

Nathan Russell Photography

We took a break from dancing to cut our two-tier wedding cake from Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop. We settled on Mud Pie for the bottom, and Strawberry on top. We also ordered a selection of their pecan bars, lemon bars, chocolate mint bars, and brownies.

There was also three flavors of gelato from Teo: Peanut Butter and Nutella Gelato, Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut, and Raspberry Sorbetto.

Nathan Russell Photography

Next was a completely impromptu performance by Adam of “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground. We had requested that the DJ play the song, but I was surprised (pleasantly!) when Adam grabbed the mike and started rapping for all of our guests. The next song that came up was “Shoop” by Salt-N-Pepa (totally coincidentally), which is my favorite song to sing at Karaoke, so I didn’t shy away from taking my turn to perform. It was a really fun, completely unplanned part of the evening.

Nathan Russell Photography

After that, there was a lot more crazy dancing, including some enthusiastic dancing to “Gangnam Style” by Psy. During the one song that Adam and I rested for a while and drank some water, his cousins Julie and Karen took the opportunity to play bullfighter and bull in a little wedding-day shtick.

Nathan Russell Photography

The night ended at midnight, and with most of the guests gone, the last ones standing — me, Adam, my immediate family, Tim, Rhonda, Jessica, Ilyse + Tom joined hands and sang along/swayed to “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppets.

Thank you, Clair! Just curious, but how did you come across this post?

jodibart

Thank you, Clair! Just curious, but how did you come across this post?

Mom

As the mother of the bride, I do not think I ate one item at the wedding….but the pizza at the very end of the night when everyone left was one of the best pizzas that I have ever had. I believe this was made by the owners of the wedding venue who serve Stanley's Farmhouse Pizza. Yummy!!!! I would go back in a minute for a slice

Mom

As the mother of the bride, I do not think I ate one item at the wedding….but the pizza at the very end of the night when everyone left was one of the best pizzas that I have ever had. I believe this was made by the owners of the wedding venue who serve Stanley's Farmhouse Pizza. Yummy!!!! I would go back in a minute for a slice

jodibart

I'm glad that you finally got something to eat, mom. That was so nice of Chad and the folks at Stanley's to heat up the oven and make us some pies.

Jetté Momant

Jodi! I loved every moment of reading this blog post and every unique moment of your wedding. Your save the date website was charming and creative and I loved the branded bottle caps. What a great way to show the personalities of both you and Adam. (One of my fave gym work out songs is Shoop! We should have a sing off one day. Just sayin')

Jetté Momant

Jodi! I loved every moment of reading this blog post and every unique moment of your wedding. Your save the date website was charming and creative and I loved the branded bottle caps. What a great way to show the personalities of both you and Adam. (One of my fave gym work out songs is Shoop! We should have a sing off one day. Just sayin')

jodibart

Thank you very much, Jette. I love your style, so am honored that you like ours too! A shoop duet is SO ON!

jodibart

Thank you very much, Jette. I love your style, so am honored that you like ours too! A shoop duet is SO ON!

jodibart

Thank you very much, Jette. I love your style, so am honored that you like ours too! A shoop duet is SO ON!

Courtney Lynn Pici

Where did you get the magnets made?

jodibart

Bottle Mark made the caps and we glued magnets to the back (the gluing of the magnets to the back proved to be a bit of a pain in the butt – we ended up gluing pennies to the back and then gluing the magnets to those with super glue): http://bottlemark.blogspot.com/2013/06/adam-and-jodi.html

Thoughts on Food & Life

I don’t need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I’m the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it.— Jimmie in “Pulp Fiction”